The Guardian view on tackling the new coronavirus: handle with care | Editorial
(The Guardian China)

The human and economic cost of the outbreak which began in China is great, but the most extreme response may not be the bestTo a government which relies upon hammers, everything looks like a nail. But the new coronavirus which emerged in Wuhan cannot simply be beaten down. Despite tens of millions being under lockdown in Hubei, around 640 people are dead and more than 31,500 infected (the vast majority in the Chinese province, but with other cases from Canada to Singapore to Russia). It is unpredictable: we remain unsure of its transmissibility and its fatality rate. We do not know how far it has spread already. We do not know whether it will be containable. This time, the enormous powers of the Chinese state face an enemy immune to its controls, exposing the system´s fundamental flaws.A state which justifies its existence largely by providing material security has proved able to mobilise and supply huge amounts of resources when faced with emergencies, as in its rapid response to 2008´s devastating earthquake in Sichuan. But this time, while the state has made a great show of constructing brand new hospitals, the city lacks medical staff and basic protective gear. The sick are being herded into quarantine centres where minimal care is available. Continue reading...